Senior Scientist, Peptide Chemistry (Night Shift)

About the Role

You’ll work closely with the founders and a small team from MIT, Harvard Medical School, Baker Lab, and Radical Numerics.

The pace and scope of the work create a substantial opportunity for growth. We are looking for speed and rigor, coupled with excitement and drive. In an early-stage environment, we value people who can bring clarity to open-ended problems, take ownership of the next steps, and follow through with energy.

We believe excellent performance and excellent output should be met with meaningful reward and ownership. At Capable, that means anyone who proves they can drive work forward can lead important programs, from senior scientists to junior scientists.

What You’ll Do

• Work a dedicated night-shift schedule, leading overnight chemistry workflows so compounds are ready for characterization, testing, or handoff the next day.

• Lead and execute synthesis across peptide, peptide-adjacent, and small-molecule programs, including route planning, reaction setup, solid-phase or solution-phase synthesis, purification, analytical characterization, and sample preparation.

• Run and optimize microwave-assisted solid-phase peptide synthesis where relevant, including resin loading, coupling/deprotection cycles, cleavage, crude analysis, purification, and final compound QC.

• Troubleshoot synthetic and analytical issues during night-shift hours, including failed reactions, low conversion, low crude purity, side products, solubility limitations, cleavage/deprotection issues, purification challenges, and instrument downtime.

• Purify and characterize compounds using analytical HPLC, prep HPLC, LC-MS, NMR, and related methods; record identity, purity, yield, analytical traces, and batch-level QC data for morning handoff.

• Prepare compounds for in vitro and in vivo testing, maintain rigorous experimental records, and communicate overnight synthesis results, issues, timelines, and risks clearly to the day team.

• Contribute to next-round compound design by sharing chemistry insight on synthetic feasibility, purity, yield, stability, solubility, and structure-property relationships.

Who You Are

• You are specifically looking for or open to a senior night-shift lab role. You are comfortable working overnight hours, operating independently, making sound technical decisions, and handing off clean, well-documented work to the day team.

• You have 5+ years of hands-on industry experience in medicinal, organic, peptide, or related chemistry, with strong experimental judgment, deep troubleshooting ability, and a high bar for execution.

• Peptide experience is helpful, but not required. You are excited to learn or deepen solid-phase synthesis while bringing strong synthetic chemistry fundamentals.

• You are comfortable owning chemistry end to end: compound design, route selection, synthesis, purification, characterization, QC, and preparation for biological testing.

• You move quickly while maintaining scientific rigor, clean documentation, and appropriate safety standards.

• You are proactive and reliable when issues arise. When a synthesis fails, an instrument is down, purity is low, or a handoff needs clarification, you help diagnose the issue, communicate clearly, and work toward a practical resolution.

Pay & Benefits

• $200,000–$260,000 salary, plus equity options with an implied current value of approximately $50,000–$200,000 before exercise cost, taxes, dilution, and liquidity risk.

• Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience.

• We sponsor visas, if necessary.

• Wellness budget: $500 per month to spend on training, supplements, personal trainers, and everything you need to become your best self.

• Healthcare: We offer a range of comprehensive medical options, so you can choose the plan that best fits your needs.

Application Process

• Initial application

• First phone screen

• Second phone screen, approximately 30 minutes

• In-person work trial in San Francisco

Apply Today

Applying takes 5 minutes and we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. We're evaluating candidates on a rolling basis and want to make an offer quickly.